Particulate materials, such as sand, may be produced during the production of hydrocarbons from a well system traversing a subterranean formation. The production of sand can restrict productivity, erode components of the well system, impede wellbore access, interfere with the operation of downhole equipment, and present disposal difficulties. A well system can include devices and procedures for sand control. Sand control can include preventing sand, silt, or other particulate material from entering a wellbore or near-wellbore area of a well system.
An example of a sand control device is a sand screen coupled to sections of a tubing string of a well system. A sand screen can filter particulate material from production fluid by allowing the production fluid to flow through the sand screen and by preventing particulate material in the production fluid from passing through the sand screen. One example of a sand screen is a wire wrapped helically around a perforated piece of pipe. The helically wrapped wire is spaced and/or gauged based on the average size of the particle to be filtered. Another example of a sand screen is a mesh filter. A mesh filter can include a group of fibers or other materials that are woven perpendicularly to another group of fibers or other materials, thereby forming pores allowing the flow of fluid through the mesh filter.
Filtering of particulate material can cause a sand screen or other sand control device to become obstructed by filtered particulate material and other debris, thereby reducing or preventing the flow of production fluid through the sand screen. One solution to reduce obstruction of a sand screen can include inserting a component such as a wash pipe into a production tubing to communicate a cleaning material, such as an acid, to the sand control device. Such a cleaning material can dissolve particulate material and other debris obstructing a sand control device. Such solutions can present a disadvantage by increasing the number of components to be deployed and operated within a well system.
It is therefore desirable to remove particulate material and other debris obstructing a sand control device without inserting additional components into the wellbore.